Penelope Cruz wears a Hublot Classic

Christmas Eve in New York, five strangers, and the kind of intersecting storylines that worked better in Short Cuts than they do here. Chazz Palminteri directed and co-starred in Noel, a 2004 holiday drama that pairs Susan Sarandon with Paul Walker, Penélope Cruz with an ensemble of lonely New Yorkers, and hopes that seasonal goodwill will bind the narrative together. Cruz plays Nina Vasquez, a woman dealing with her own heartbreak while the city sparkles around her. She brings more intensity to the role than the material probably deserves.

The Hublot Classic on Cruz is an early example of what became a trend — luxury watch brands finding their way onto the wrists of female characters in mid-budget dramas. Carlo Crocco's original 1980 design combined a gold case with a rubber strap, which gave it a sporty-dressy versatility that worked on both men and women. The Classic is smaller than what Hublot would later become known for — before the Big Bang line supersized everything in 2005, the Classic was actually a restrained watch. On Nina Vasquez, wandering through Manhattan on Christmas Eve, it reads as a piece of real jewelry worn by a woman who bought it for herself.